Ernst II is credited with initiating the first English landscape garden on the continent. A journey in 1768/69 had also taken him to England, from where he brought the gardener John Haverfield with him. Haverfield created a garden in Gotha based on a plan by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The garden is simple and without the usual park architecture. After completion of his garden, the Duke had the other Gotha gardens combined into one park. Ernst II was a Freemason and Illuminati. With a wide range of artistic and scientific interests, he made Gotha a court of the Muses and a place of science. He promoted education, economy, and the arts. As a Freemason, he had himself buried wrapped in a white cloth on the park island in his garden without a tomb.
